Thank you all. I've learned a lot here. I did manage to get Debian
installed, though it was through a side door that was opened by Debian
Live. I'm grateful for that. I will continue to look for a Linux with
which I can live.
In private messages with some list members I advocated for focus
testing. I now realize that this list *is* the focus test. That's too
bad as I expect most of the list doesn't know or want that.
Since this list is not attended by developers, I'll minimize my
bandwidth load by being brief.
Should anyone want my focus test conclusions regarding Debian, I'd be
happy to document them, but lacking at least one request from a
serious maintainer (or a developer if one should emerge), I'll not
waste my time on something that doesn't have a ready and attentive
audience.
Also, if anyone has a suggestion on which Linux tribe I should join,
I'd welcome it. I believe you all have my email address.
I want a Linux system so I can remove networking from Windows XP. I
don't trust Windows and when XP loses support next year, I'll be cut
off. So I want to use Linux as a computer-hostable Internet appliance.
Understand, that's the only use I will make of Linux, at least for the
foreseeable future. I'll continue to use Windows XP for engineering
and other projects, only as an isolated operating system without
networking.
I'd like to leave you with one reflection that may cause pause. If
tomorrow Debian were to suddenly become twice as popular as it
currently is, this list would be flooded by people exactly like me.
Regards, Ciao, and Good Luck - Mark.